About

Special thanks to B Media for filming the video and to Balance Media for production and directing.

The Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project has been working to protect and restore the ecosystems of the Blue Mountains and Eastern Oregon Cascades since 1991. We work to stop or modify projects that threaten ecological diversity and integrity such as logging, road building, livestock grazing, herbicide and biocide use, and mining. Our work area includes the Malheur, Ochoco, Umatilla, and Deschutes National Forests. We prioritize the protection of old growth, sensitive and listed species, water quality, roadless areas, and areas vital to ecological processes. We also provide ways to become more involved in environmental change work via our summer volunteer internship program and other volunteer opportunities. Our work is important for the conservation of numerous species, including salmon, wolves, lynx, rare woodpeckers, Pacific fishers, marten, and wolverine.

The results of our work include stopping tens of thousands of acres of logging and significantly modifying many more thousands of acres. We have stopped herbicide and/or biocide spraying on up to six million acres and we have protected roadless areas, threatened species, moist mixed conifer forests, and riparian areas. We have also trained over 235 interns in forest ecology and activist skills and give workshops and trainings on everything from field survey work to fighting corporate rule.

Most of our work is done by volunteers. Every summer we are out in the field, gathering information, building legal cases, and battling timber sales and other plans that threaten the Blue Mountains. We are always seeking volunteers, especially for field survey work, which runs from June 1st to the last week of September each year. There are many ways you can become involved, so visit our Get Involved! page to see how you can help!

Watch the Earth Day interview in which Karen Coulter talks about our work in eastern Oregon, including our accomplishments on reducing toxic herbicide use on public lands, fighting logging projects, and bringing awareness to these issues. The interview also discusses externalized costs of environmental degradation, legal rights for nature and animals, and more. Thanks to Jim Lockhart for producing this video.

You can also watch this interview with Karen Coulter on climate change and forests. We are working to bring awareness to how climate change is already threatening the ecological integrity and biodiversity of forests in eastern Oregon. We are also challenging practices on public lands that exacerbate problems related to climate change, such as ecologically destructive logging practices that alter watershed hydrology, de-water streams. raise stream temperatures, and threaten species vulnerable to climate change.

Logging in the EXF timber sale in the Deschutes National Forest. Watch the video below to learn more about this sale and about logging in the Deschutes National Forest.

Karen Coulter, Director of Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project, discusses post-logging impacts in the EXF timber sale in the Deschutes National Forest in this mini-film. Special thanks to Kenneth Watson for making this video!

You can listen to Karen Coulter discuss our work, forest and fire ecology, and current threats to forests in eastern Oregon in an interview on the Wild Clearwater Country Radio Show (click here). This excellent interview was recorded earlier this 2016 field season– thanks to the folks at Friends of the Clearwater in Idaho!

Logging in the EXF timber sale in the Deschutes National Forest

Help Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project fight destructive timber sales on four National Forests in Eastern Oregon! Funds raised this spring will help to support this year’s field season. Please donate with a one time donation or a monthly donation!

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Sign up for our Action Alerts and updates!

Sign up for our listserv to receive Action Alerts and project updates! We alert supporters of the need for comments on timber sales, livestock allotment renewals, and other agency projects, but there is a lack of sufficient public response. When you comment it really does make a difference on the outcome. Even short comments can help stop or alter a sale. We also send out our biannual work reports and other updates.

We also accept donations of equipment, field gear, office supplies, and other items. We are particularly in need of: GPS units, laptops, digital cameras, dbh tape measures, compasses that can also measure slope, non-perishable food, and other similar items. Contact us if you have items you can donate or if you have any questions. Thank you!

Recent Updates

Action Alert!

The Trump Administration is launching unprecedented attacks on bedrock environmental laws. Your comments are urgently needed on both proposals! Please voice your support for imperiled species and for key environmental protections. Please click on the “Comment on Timber Sales & Other Projects” tab above for more information.

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Please click on the “2018 Mid-Year Work Report to read more about our accomplishments since last fall!

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Thank you to everyone who came out to our Annual Benefit! Thanks also to folks who couldn’t be at our benefit but donated online. We met our 2018 spring fundraising goals with your help! We are thrilled to be off to a good start for the upcoming field season.

It was great to see everyone who came out for our Annual Benefit. The evening was lovely, with great music by Dolphin Midwives and Na Rósaí, a stunning butoh performance by Min, lots of great food and desserts, and an amazing raffle. Donations for the raffle included an overnight stay at Breitenbush, gift cards for tattoos, garden consultation, herbal classes, tons of amazing art and handcrafted jewelry, and more. Thank you to all the performers, and to everyone who donated to the raffle. Thanks also to everyone who helped with the benefit staffing, cleanup, and organization. We couldn’t have done it without you!

We hope to see you all next year!

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You can also click on the “Key Accomplishments & Past Annual Reports” tab to see our 2017 Annual and Spring Work Reports, and read about additional accomplishments from past years.

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Exciting News!

Click on the “Fire Ecology: Information and Resources” tab above to check out “A New Message for Smokey”. This lovely video by Wild Nature Institute and Wild Lens is about the importance of high severity wildfire. Agencies often use oversimplified and inaccurate rationales for logging on public lands; on the east side of the Cascades logging is pushed primarily through the fear of fire. Please share this lovely video far and wide, as it sheds necessary light and transparency on the ecological processes in fire-dependent forests.

We have a training video out! Click on the “training video” tab above to see the video.

Grassroots Public Lands Protection Organizations Unite Against Ecologically Destructive Collaborative Process Used by the Forest Service! Click on the “Collective Statement on Collaborative Group Trends” in the tab above to read a summary of the issues and to see the full statement.